MLB

Rockies 3, Mets 1

NEW YORK (AP)

Tyler Colvin stood in front of his locker wearing a Todd Helton
T-shirt and cracked a big grin when he was given a choice: tying
home run off R.A. Dickey or terrific play at first base.

''I'd go with the game-saving play,'' Colvin said.

Either way, Helton, the three-time Gold Glove first baseman on
the disabled list since Aug. 6, would approve of Colvin's night
that led the Colorado Rockies to a 3-1 win over the New York Mets
on Monday.

Getting more playing time at first base because of Helton's hip
surgery and the recently-injured Michael Cuddyer, Colvin connected
off Dickey in the fifth inning then made a diving grab with the
bases loaded in the eighth to preserve the lead.

Jonathan Herrera bunted for a hit in the top of the eighth and
made his way around the bases with help from some inept defense to
give Colorado a 2-1 lead.

''Looking for any opportunity to get on base,'' Herrera
said.

Colvin's first home run in 105 at-bats, denied the knuckleballer
a chance at his 16th win and helped the Rockies to their sixth
victory in eight games.

With their 10th loss in 14 games, the Mets (57-65) dropped into
a third-place tie with Philadelphia in the NL East, 18 1-2 games
behind first-place Washington.

Colvin made a lunging stop on pinch-hitter Jordany Valdespin's
sharp grounder just inside the bag with the bases loaded and his
toss to reliever Matt Belisle just beat a diving Valdespin to the
bag.

''They've all been told about you don't see track runners diving
at the finish line. There's a reason they don't do it. It slows you
down,'' Collins said. ''Any time you hit the ground, it slows you
down. Jordany gave it his best effort.''

Said Valdespin: ''At the moment, you not thinking nothing. You
go running. The only (thing) you want to do is be safe because you
know the tying run is on third base.''

Guillermo Moscoso gave up a hit in 2 1-3 innings, Rex Brothers
(7-2) allowed a hit in 1 1-3 innings and Belisle got one big out
for the Rockies.

Alex White was done after four wild, but effective innings under
manager Jim Tracy's four-man rotation. He allowed three hits and
two walks on 83 pitches - 46 strikes. Tracy has been limiting his
pitchers to about 75 tosses a game.

''You throw 30 pitches in an inning you got to set your sites on
going four innings,'' White said of his 29-pitch first inning. ''It
is what it is.''

The team could go back to a five-man rotation soon. Jhoulys
Chacin (pectoral nerve irritation) is scheduled to make his first
start since May 1 on Tuesday and Drew Pomeranz will make his next
start Friday, Tracy said. Depending on how Chacin does, all five
could remain.

Dickey was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, and
Herrera led off the eighth with a push a bunt toward first base.
Reliever Josh Edgin (1-1) tried to shovel the ball with his glove
to first baseman Ike Davis but the toss went way off line and
Herrera raced to second on the Mets' first error in 10 games.

Herrera advanced to third on Chris Nelson's sacrifice and scored
on a passed ball by Kelly Shoppach, who struck out batting for Josh
Thole in the seventh with a runner on first.

The Mets loaded the bases against Brothers in the bottom half,
getting a runner past first for the first time since they went
ahead 1-0 on Daniel Murphy's single in the opening inning.

While the Mets have shifted to a six-man rotation to give extra
rest to Johan Santana and Chris Young and help limit rookie Matt
Harvey's innings, Dickey will pitch on his regular schedule to give
him a couple of more chances at a possible 20-win season.

The knuckleballer was coming off a rough start at Cincinnati in
which he was asked to remove two bracelets and matched season highs
by giving up three homers and 10 hits.

He had little trouble with the Rockies' injury-depleted lineup.
Dickey retired the first eight batters before White looped a single
over the outstretched glove of a leaping Murphy, the second
baseman. He gave up three hits overall and walked two in seven
innings.

But a Mets offense that has averaged less than three runs a game
over their previous 13 provided him with little support and he was
lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh inning of a tie game.

''It's tough, because the first half of the season, we scored a
lot of runs and the offense really picked up the pitchers,'' Dickey
said. '' So it would be great to have a couple of games where we
don't hit the ball where the pitchers pick the hitters up. It
doesn't always work that way.''

NOTES: The Rockies have won five straight at Citi Field. ...
Rockies OF Carlos Gonzalez is not expected to return from Venezuela
until late Tuesday night and will likely next play on Wednesday. He
was placed on the bereavement list Saturday night because of the
death of his grandfather. ... Santana is going to have an MRI on
his stiff back Tuesday and his scheduled start Thursday is in
jeopardy.

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